Articles Tagged withnew york bus accident

The bus driver who fatally struck a cyclist on West 26th Street, New York, was found guilty of violating New York City’s Right of Way Law, failure to exercise due care and traffic violation, after a trial that lasted two days.

On a Monday morning in June 2017, Dan Hanegby was pedaling to work on West 26th Street. The street has no bike lane and cyclists share the road with motor vehicles. David Lewis who was driving a Coach USA bus arrived behind the biker, clearly saw him and barreled past him in a narrow area of the street instead of slowing down and waiting for a safer opportunity to pass the bike. The bicyclist was knocked down by the bus and died.

During the trial the attorney for the bus driver tried to blame the victim and claimed that Hanegby lost control of his bike. However a surveillance video from a nearby building clearly shows that the bicyclist drove on a straight line and that because vehicles were parked on both sides of the street, it was just too narrow for the bus driver to pass the bike. The video also shows that the bus driver doesn’t slow down at any moment. Not before and not after the accident, completely failing to exercise caution.

34 people suffered personal injury in an accidents involving two buses. The accident occurred in the center tube of the Lincoln tunnel that links New Jersey to Manhattan. The two NJ Transit bus who were coming from Wayne and from Oradell were following each others when one of them rear ended the other one. 25 passengers were on board one of the buses and 37 were riding in the other bus. 32 of them were injured. 8 of them suffered serious injury. Instead of ambulances, FDNY used a special bus that allowed them to transport dozens of injured passengers to the hospital at the same time.

A bicyclists died after colliding with a bus in New York Monday morning. 36 year old Dan Hanegby, a financial executive at Credit Suisse was riding a Citi Bike on West 26th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. He was riding between the parked cars and a charter bus when the collision occurred. The man fell to the ground and was run over by the rear wheels of the bus.

The accident happened around 8:15 am on Monday. Hanegby was wearing a suit and was most probably on his way to work. The young man was transported to the hospital in critical condition. He died shortly after his arrival to the hospital. The bus driver stayed at the scene of the accident. He wasn’t charged.

Hanegby grew up in Israel and served in the Israel Defense force. He was also an avid tennis player according to his social media profile.

A woman suffered critical personal injury after being hit by a MTA bus in New York City. The accident occurred around 9 pm last Monday. 61 year old Aurora Beauchamp was crossing E. Houston Street at Avenue D in the crosswalk and at the green light when the bus struck her. She was transported to the hospital. Her sternum, ribs hip and pelvis were broken and she suffered internal bleeding. The bus driver was also transported to the hospital for trauma. He was charged with failure to yield to a pedestrian.

It is not the first time that a pedestrian has been hit by an MTA bus at this location. Just a few months ago, in October 2016, 73 year old Anna Colon was fatally hit by a MTA bus that was turning left from Avenue D onto East Houston.

While looking at the Twitter picture below, one can see that Monday’s accident occurred exactly in the same way: the bus was making a left turn onto East Houston as well.

Subway accidents and bus accidents in NYC are difficult to avoid. As millions of people are using the subways and buses in NYC every year, accidents happen. People are getting hurt, sometimes badly. Sometimes they die. Some accidents are caused by the negligence of the MTA New York City Transit. Over the last 5 years, the agency settled or adjudicated 4,592 negligence cases for a total of $431 million. 88 cases were settled for more than $1 million. A case was settled last year for $9 million. The victim was 19 year old Ali Muir, a pre-med student. Muir tripped in a hole on a subway platform. He fell on the tracks and was hit by a subway.Both of Muir’s legs were amputated from the knees. It took 6 years for his case to settle. Many NYC subway platforms have unfixed hazards that can cause dangerous slip and falls.

Any personal injury lawyer in the city knows that NYC transit cases are not easy cases. 49 tort attorneys are working full time for the agency, aggressively fighting every case. The agency is taking the time it needs to fight cases because it only has to pay a 3% post judgment interest rate. Other agencies and litigants have to pay a 9% post judgment interest rate on the money awarded at trial to victims. The 3% interest rate is an incentive for the NYC transit to take the time it needs post judgment to take lengthy Appeals of adverse judgments in cases.

Cases take so long to be settled that sometimes victims have to borrow money to pay for their medical bills or for their living. This happened to 36 year old Pilar Ortiz. She suffered serious leg injuries after being struck by a MTA Bus while riding her bicycle. Ortiz had to undergo 20- surgeries to save her legs. She was represented by two of our attorneys: Ben Rubinowitz and Peter Saghir. Rubinowitz and Saghir successfully fought the NYC transit agency who was blaming the victim for the accident. The case went to trial. Rubinowitz and Saghir were able to prove to the jury that MTA investigators were lying. Ortiz won the case after a 6 year battle.

13 people were injured in a bus accident in New York this afternoon. The bus was a double decker operated by Go New York Tours. The bus was heading South on Fifth Ave near 63rd Street when it crashed into a tree. The bus driver told the police that he swerved to avoid a cab who cut in front of him. However a witness who was crossing the street at the time of the accident told the NY Daily News that it wasn’t true. He explained that the bus was driving too fast and that he jumped the curb to avoid a city bus that had stopped in front of him to pick up passengers. According to the same witness, the driver never hit the brakes and went straight into the tree. The impact was so violent that it sounded like an explosion. Among the injured, a couple of tourists in their 70’s suffered serious head injuries. 11 other people were also injured and transported by ambulance to the hospital.

The Consumer Affairs department conducted multiple inspections of the Bus Tour operator which according to ABC News has been slapped with 18 violations including one driver without a commercial driver’s license. 3 of the 22 buses failed to pass federal inspection and one of the buses was also involved in an accident with a car last March in Queens. It is a shame that the city of New York still allow this company to operate.

9 people suffered personal injury in a New York bus accident. 2 of them are seriously injured and are still being treated at the hospital.

The accident happened yesterday afternoon a little after 4:00 pm. The QM11 bus, a MTA express bus, was on its way to Queens. As it was passing under the FDR overpass at 33rd Street, the driver reached for his bottle of water. He lost control of the bus and hit a pillar of the overpass. 6 people suffered minor injuries, 3 passengers were transported to the hospital, 2 with serious injury. The driver was also transported to the hospital. He suffered chest pain. Read more in the NY Daily News

Eating and drinking can cause accidents. In New York City between 0 and 6 accidents every month are being caused by eating and drinking behind the wheel.

There are usually less personal injuries and deaths related to motor vehicle accidents in New York City during the month of January than during most other months. This January there were 17,798 traffic accidents compared to 15,977 in January 2015, 16,597 in January 2014 and 15,599. Even though motor vehicle accidents decreased from January 2014 to 2015 the number of monthly accidents has been on an increasing trend. It is the first time that the number of traffic accidents is above 17,000 for the month of January.

Despite an increasing number of traffic accidents the number of injuries and deaths related to theses accidents have decreased. This is hopefully related to the introduction of various initiatives to make the streets safer launched under the NYC Vision Zero project. As motorists are driving slower and in a safer way, accidents still happen but less road users are injured or die.

3,624 people were injured in a traffic crash in New York this past January. This is more than in January 2015 (2,449) but less than in January 2014 (3,899) and in January 2013 (3,993). Globally over the last 3 years the monthly number of people injured in NYC auto accidents has been decreasing. However during the last few months, the number of injuries have been picking up again. For example, In December 2015 there were 4,519 people injured in auto accidents in NYC compared to 4,117 in December 2014 and 4,277 in December 2013. It was the first time that the number of injuries related to traffic accidents in NYC was above the trend line in December.

A NYC bus crashed in a snowstorm injuring more than 30 yesterday. The bus which had left New York in the morning was driving 55 passengers to the Mohegan Sun Casino. Around half past noon, the bus was driving through a snowstorm on Interstate 95 in Connecticut when it flipped over just beyond Exit 61. Ambulances were immediately dispatched to the scene and passengers injured were transported to several hospitals in the region. Among the injured passengers, 6 were listed in critical condition.

So far it is difficult to know if only the bad weather triggered the bus to flip on its side. The police are still investigating the cause of the accident. The highway was closed to the traffic for many hours.

The bus belongs to Dahlia Travel and Tour, a New York City based bus operator. Yeserday’s accident happened 13 years after a Dahlia bus on its way to Atlantic City crashed on the highway, killing two people and injuring many.

776 pedestrians, 513 bicyclists, 1236 passengers and 1960 motorists suffered personal injury in motor vehicle accidents in New York City in September compared to respectively 714 pedestrians, 565 bicyclists, 1448 passengers and 2010 motorists in August and 751 pedestrians, 485 bicyclists, 1677 passengers and 1523 motorists in September 2014.

While the number of pedestrians injured in NYC traffic accidents has been below 1000 since the beginning of 2014, the number of people injured in bicycle accidents stayed over 500 for the last 3 months. The number of motorists injured has also been unusually high and staying above 2000 for the last 3 months.

4 pedestrians, 2 bicyclists, 2 passengers and 6 motorists died in motor vehicle accidents in September compared to 11 pedestrians, 3 bicyclists, 2 passengers and 5 motorists in August and 13 pedestrians, 1 bicyclist, 4 passengers and 8 motorists in September 2014. The Vision Zero Initiative is having a positive impact. Since the beginning of the year, it is the fourth month that the total monthly traffic fatalities are below 15. In 2014 it happened only twice and in 2013 the monthly number of people dying on New York City Streets never went below 15.